This season’s regular President Trump impersonator returned once more, but in a bit of twist, didn’t crack a string of biting jokes to open up this week’s episode. Instead, Baldwin’s Trump sat at the piano on the main stage and performed “Hallelujah.”

If you’re wondering why that feels familiar, it’s because this is sort of how SNL began its first episode after the 2016 election. That time it was Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton playing the tune, and also as a tribute to Leonard Cohen who had just died. But unlike most SNL sketches, McKinnon’s Hillary cold open was entirely serious; she appeared to have tears in her eyes as she ended the song with a nod to Clinton’s concession speech.

That kind of sincere emotion was absent this time, which was made sense after SNL spent all season poking fun of Trump — so much so that even after getting elected president, Trump publicly complained about the show’s impersonation.

The apparent elevation of Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to a position within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would mark another “first” of sorts for the Trump administration: It’s the first time any known participant in the antigovernment Patriot movement, let alone one of its leading figures, has ever held a federal position of any significance.

Clarke told a radio talk-show host earlier this week that he was accepting the job as assistant secretary in the Office of Partnership and Engagement at DHS, serving as a kind of liaison between local law enforcement the federal agency.

Alright, that’s it for me this week. See you again soon, when, well, who knows what will be going on with the Orange Turd and his kleptocratic fascism. I mean, just look back at this week alone. This is of course always the case, but it feels even more as if we’re living through history, that is, through a truly historic event unfolding in real time.

But the damage isn’t just to the U.S. For example, as a moderate is re-elected in Iran, and as there is opportunity for genuine engagement and progress there, the Orange Turd is being lauded (and manipulated) by Saudi Arabia) just as the U.S. stocks it with arms for its terrorization of the Middle East, including its own people. The Orange Turd, you see, is the foe of liberalism and democracy wherever they exist, both at home and abroad, and yet the rest of the world must look to Americans themselves to resist and replace this truly global threat. There is no time to lose.

We are an instant gratification society. We saw the craziness of Donald Trump on the campaign trail, the lies, the pandering, the busting of norms and we’re impatient for the rest of the media (and country) to catch up to us. If I had a dime for every post on social media wondering why we haven’t impeached the Orange One yet, I could retire now very comfortably.

But the truth is, you gotta be patient. Impeachment is not an overnight event. The investigation is still fairly young. And my fear is that we are so focused on the instant gratification of an unlikely impeachment that we’re missing the forest for the trees. Let us not stop going to town halls to demand to keep our health care. Let us not stop advocating for women’s rights, and LGBT rights, and civil rights. Let’s fight for clean water and clean air. Let’s fight to not privatize our schools and prisons. Let us not focus on the 2020 presidential elections and instead, focus on the 2017 gubernatorial races and the 2018 congressional mid-terms where we can flip the majority back to the Dems. In fact, let’s focus on obstructing Trump’s policies by getting as many Democrats at the municipal, state, and congressional levels that we can.

I get the yearning for the satisfaction of having Trump perp walked out of the White House. I want it too. But please, give us the strength to see what’s important and what’s a shiny distraction on the Sunday shows.

In the trailer for his episode of “Master Class”, David Mamet’s says that all he really needs to do his thing is a pencil and some paper for the dialogue and two chairs and one location to stage the play. And with not a lot more than that, fame low-budget director Edgar G. Ulmer put “The Man From Planet X” on the screen.

According to Turner Classic Movies, Ulmer finished principal photography in six days (on the seventh day he rested), and saved a ton of money by recycling sets for the 1948 Ingrid Bergman film Joan of Arc, using fog to change moods and locations.

Turns out, a good script, a clear story line, a skilled director and clever atmospherics really can turn “two chairs and one location” into a minor science fiction/horror classic.

Now more than ever, it appears that Fox News isn’t even trying to convince viewers of the ‘veracity’ of their fantastical accounts of reality. Ever since Ailes cashed in his chips and has relocated to become Nixon’s new roommate in Hell, are they surrendering?

Today’s Fox and Friends-Dan Bongino interview feebly and unsuccessfully attempted to refute Russiagate. Fox ‘News’ thought it was a good idea to pick the brain of Bongino, an ex-Secret Service agent with a history of hatred for Hillary Clinton, to dispel the deluge of evidence against Trump? He was practically waving a white flag of surrender!

Does the Fox Brass believe that, perhaps, enough time has elapsed since this profanity-laced drama with a Florida POLITICO reporter who covered Bongino’s Congressional race? (CAUTION: The link contains some serious NSFW language). As their benefactor @RealDonaldTrump would say, SAD!

DOOCY: …It seems like everybody is simply talking about Russia, Russia, Russia! And now, Time Magazine, which was ‘once’ one of America’s great weeklies, has got a cover of the White House merging with St. Basil’s Cathedral, as if Russia is taking over the White House! (Clutches his pearls). What do you think about that?

The issue isn’t just facts, but tone of coverage. Tone (eg treating Trump like entertainment) was an even bigger issue during GOP primary.

I don’t know why the people who ignored the facts would have changed their mind because you gave them more facts.

Don’t forget there was a very long time when there were virtually zero deep dives on Trump, because he wasn’t taken seriously as a candidate If we’d seen this sort of serious coverage of Trump even before the general, he might not have been the Republican nominee in the 1st place.

Broadway Diva, Tony Award winner and American icon Patti LuPone is as dumbstruck as the rest of us over whom is ‘leading’ this country. What the hell has happened to this great nation? Apparently the worst person on Earth: Donald J. Trump.

LuPone appeared as a guest on Show People With Paul Wontorek. She was asked her opinion on several matters, and the conversation moved to the unpleasant fact that reality television is the biggest influence in our society. This is the new America,
dumbed down by years of Republican anti-intellectualism and the total devaluation of culture and the arts.

Patti really despises the true afterbirth of reality television, who has somehow been installed as our POTUS and she’s doesn’t hold back. She admits what he’s done recently with regards to Russia is tantamount to treason. She doesn’t even hesitate to drop the F-bomb, several times and it’s likely something you too may have said. Then she pauses and asks some damn good questions.

If he’s right, the speed at which new allegations, admissions, and revelations enter the daily news stream, coupled with the velocity at which modern information technology disseminates them, might actually accelerate the arc over which this madness ends, for better or worse. With any luck, we’ll move quickly toward impeachment and removal of Donald Trump.